wp help

Overview

Get detailed documentation for any WP-CLI command or subcommand directly in your terminal — no browser needed. wp help shows the full syntax, all available flags, usage examples, and related subcommands for whatever you pass it.

What It Does

wp help is WP-CLI's built-in man page system. It reads the docblock of each registered command and formats it for terminal display. Unlike --help (which gives a compact summary), wp help provides the full, paginated documentation.

Syntax

wp help [<command>] [<subcommand>]

Basic Examples

Get help for WP-CLI itself

wp help

Output:

NAME

  wp

DESCRIPTION

  Manage WordPress through the command-line.

SYNOPSIS

  wp <command>

SUBCOMMANDS

  cache           Adds, removes, fetches, and flushes the WP Object Cache object.
  cap             Adds, removes, and lists capabilities of a user role.
  cli             Reviews current WP-CLI info, checks for updates, etc.
  comment         Creates, updates, deletes, and moderates comments.
  config          Generates and reads the wp-config.php file.
  core            Downloads, installs, updates, and manages a WordPress install.
  ...

Help for a top-level command

wp help plugin

Output:

NAME

  wp plugin

DESCRIPTION

  Manages plugins, including installs, activations, and updates.

SYNOPSIS

  wp plugin <command>

SUBCOMMANDS

  activate          Activates one or more plugins.
  deactivate        Deactivates one or more plugins.
  delete            Deletes plugin files without deactivating or unregistering them.
  get               Gets details about an installed plugin.
  install           Installs one or more plugins.
  is-installed      Checks if a given plugin is installed.
  list              Gets a list of plugins.
  path              Gets the path to a plugin or to the plugin directory.
  search            Searches the WordPress.org plugin directory.
  status            Reveals the status of one or more plugins.
  toggle            Toggles a plugin's activation state.
  uninstall         Uninstalls one or more plugins.
  update            Updates one or more plugins.
  verify-checksums  Verifies plugin files against WordPress.org's checksums.

Help for a specific subcommand

wp help plugin install

Output:

NAME

  wp plugin install

DESCRIPTION

  Installs one or more plugins.

SYNOPSIS

  wp plugin install <plugin|zip|url>... [--version=<version>]
      [--force] [--activate] [--activate-network] [--insecure]

OPTIONS

  <plugin|zip|url>...
    One or more plugins to install. Accepts a plugin slug, the path to a
    local zip file, or a URL to a remote zip file.

  [--version=<version>]
    Get that particular release from wordpress.org, instead of the
    stable version.

  [--force]
    Re-install the plugin even if it's already installed.

  [--activate]
    Activate the plugin after installation.

  [--activate-network]
    Network-activate the plugin.

  [--insecure]
    Retry downloads without certificate validation if TLS handshake fails.

EXAMPLES

    # Install the latest version from wordpress.org and activate
    $ wp plugin install bbpress --activate

    # Install the development version of the plugin
    $ wp plugin install bbpress --version=dev

    # Install from a local zip file
    $ wp plugin install ../my-plugin.zip

Help for database commands

wp help db

Output:

NAME

  wp db

DESCRIPTION

  Performs basic database operations using credentials stored in wp-config.php.

SUBCOMMANDS

  check       Checks the current status of the database.
  clean       Removes all tables with a given prefix.
  cli         Opens a MySQL console using credentials from wp-config.php.
  columns     Displays information about a given table.
  create      Creates a new database.
  drop        Deletes the existing database.
  export      Exports the database to a file or to STDOUT.
  import      Imports a database from a file or from STDIN.
  optimize    Optimizes the database.
  prefix      Displays the database table prefix.
  query       Executes a SQL query against the database.
  repair      Repairs the database.
  reset       Removes all tables from the database.
  search      Finds a string in the database.
  size        Displays the database name and size.
  tables      Lists the database tables.

Help for cache commands

wp help cache

Output:

NAME

  wp cache

DESCRIPTION

  Adds, removes, fetches, and flushes the WP Object Cache object.

SUBCOMMANDS

  add       Adds a value to the object cache.
  delete    Removes a value from the object cache.
  flush     Flushes the object cache.
  get       Gets a value from the object cache.
  set       Sets the value of a cached object.
  type      Attempts to determine which object cache is being used.

Help for the wp eval command itself

wp help eval

Output:

NAME

  wp eval

DESCRIPTION

  Executes arbitrary PHP code.

SYNOPSIS

  wp eval <php-code> [--skip-wordpress]

OPTIONS

  <php-code>
    The code to execute, as a string.

  [--skip-wordpress]
    Execute code without loading WordPress.

EXAMPLES

    # Display WordPress content types.
    $ wp eval 'echo wp_list_pluck( get_post_types(), 'label' );'

    # Pass an arbitrary string to a script.
    $ wp eval 'print html_entity_decode( "H1Hello worldH1" );'

When to Use --help vs wp help

Both provide documentation, but with different lengths:

Flag/Command	Output Style	Detail Level
wp COMMAND --help	Compact, inline	Summary only
wp help COMMAND	Paginated, full man page	Full examples and options

Example comparison

wp plugin install --help

Output:

usage: wp plugin install <plugin|zip|url>... [--version=<version>] [--force] [--activate] ...

wp help plugin install

Output: (The full paginated man page as shown above)

Navigating the Help Output

When the output is long, WP-CLI uses a pager (usually less):

Key	Action
Space	Page forward
b	Page back
q	Quit
/keyword	Search forward
n	Jump to next search match

Discovering Subcommands You Didn't Know About

A great use of wp help is discovering subcommands of a group:

wp help user

SUBCOMMANDS

  add-cap        Adds capabilities to a user.
  add-role       Adds a role for a user.
  create         Creates a new user.
  delete         Deletes one or more users from the current site.
  generate       Generates some users.
  get            Gets details about a user.
  import-csv     Imports users from a CSV file.
  list           Lists users.
  list-caps      Lists all capabilities for a user.
  meta           Manages user custom fields.
  remove-cap     Removes capabilities from a user.
  remove-role    Removes a user's role.
  reset-password Resets the password for one or more users.
  set-role       Sets the user role.
  spam           Marks one or more users as spam.
  term           Manages user terms.
  unspam         Removes one or more users from spam.
  update         Updates an existing user.

Quick Reference

wp help                          # WP-CLI root help
wp help plugin                   # Plugin group subcommands
wp help plugin install           # Specific subcommand detail
wp help cache                    # Cache subcommands
wp help db                       # Database group
wp help eval                     # Eval command help
wp help eval-file                # Eval-file command help
wp help shell                    # Shell REPL help

Next Steps

• wp eval — execute quick PHP expressions.
• wp eval-file — run full PHP scripts.
• wp shell — open an interactive REPL.